Ray Farmer’s first major decisions as general manager have to do with his own potential free agents before the market opens on March 11.

Six Browns will be free agents without new contracts but only two — strong safety T.J. Ward and center Alex Mack — are top-level players. The others are starting right guard Shawn Lauvao, running back Willis McGahee, kicker Billy Cundiff and spare offensive lineman Oniel Cousins.

Teams have until March 3 to decide whether to use the franchise tag on one of their free agents. The franchise designation lasts for one season and eliminates the player’s chance to test free agency for a year. Franchise players are well-compensated, but are usually unhappy because they are prevented from signing a long-term contract elsewhere.

The Browns would like to re-sign Mack and Ward without getting into the sticky business of using the franchise tag on either.

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The salary for a franchised player is calculated by averaging the top five salaries at his position for the previous season. In the case of Mack, offensive linemen at all three positions are lumped together. The Browns would have to pay Mack $11.126 million in 2014. The 2009 first-round draft choice was paid $3.732 million in base salary in 2013.

Ward, a second-round pick in 2010, would cost a little more than $8 million to franchise. He was paid $630,000 in base salary last season.

In typical December mode, because the games the Browns were playing were meaningless, locker room questions turned to 2014. For Mack and Ward, that meant asking whether they wanted to re-sign with the Browns. Both said they did, but that was before Rob Chudzinski was fired as head coach. It was also before Joe Banner was ousted as CEO and Mike Lombardi as general manager, but the front office shakeup doesn’t affect either player negatively because Mack was drafted by Eric Mangini (three head coaches ago) and Ward by Tom Heckert (two general managers ago).

“If I get the tag, I get the tag,” Ward said on Dec. 24. “That would just be one more year here. It is a sort of free agency, but you’re still with the team. So it’s like a one-year contract, and I’ve just got to continue to do the things that I’ve been doing. That’s all it is, basically just another year.”

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network speculated the Browns will franchise Ward if they cannot sign him to a long-term contract.

Ward is coming off his best season with the Browns. He started all 16 games for the first time since his rookie year, had a career-high 126 tackles and intercepted two passes. He returned one of them 44 yards for a touchdown. He also recovered a fumble and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown and was voted a Pro Bowl alternate. He ended up playing in the Pro Bowl when Troy Polamalu withdrew because of injury.

Whether the Browns tag Ward could come down to whether Coach Mike Pettine, Buffalo’s defensive coordinator last season, prefers Jairus Byrd, a Bills free safety who would become a free agent on March 11 without a new contract.

Byrd was the Bills’ franchise player last year and did not sign his contract until Aug. 20 — more than three weeks after training camp started. Byrd, 27, is looking for a mega contract, according to reports from Buffalo.

Mack and the Browns discussed a new contract last year but tabled discussions when the season began. When he said he wanted to return, he had no idea he would be playing for different coaches.

“Cleveland is a very easy place to come back to,” Mack said on Dec. 27. “I like the coaches. I like the players. I have a house here. So without a doubt, it would be very easy to come back.”

He still has his house and still has his teammates. Though he played for three head coaches — Mangini, Pat Shurmur and Chudzinski — George Warhop was his only offensive line coach with the Browns, until now. The new offensive line coach under Pettine is Andy Moeller. Moeller was the Ravens’ offensive line coach the last three years.

Mack made every offensive snap from 2009-13. He was elected to his second Pro Bowl after the 2013 season.

The Browns have used the franchise tag twice in their history. They used it on kicker Phil Dawson in 2011 and 2012. He bolted for San Francisco when he was a free agent in 2013.

About the Author

Jeff has covered the Cleveland Browns since 1981. He also covers the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League and the Cleveland Gladiators in the Arena Football League. Reach the author at jschudel@news-herald.com
or follow Jeff on Twitter: @jsbrownsinsider.